MORE FISHING NOTES. 245 



it is certainly the pleasantest ; but the very best fish, 

 both for size and beauty, are caught, trout excepted, 

 in late autumn or mid-winter. Fish require food in 

 winter-time and they get it by simply shifting their 

 quarters. Any angler of experience will soon find 

 out where they have got to, and act accordingly. 

 Roach from a pound to a pound and a half are worthy 

 of your steel, but we have them from a pound and a 

 half to two pounds, for they vary according to the 

 water. Such fish are very fastidious as to their habi- 

 tat. It is not often you are fortunate enough to find 

 a swim such as the one I shall describe ; when you do, 

 take with you a brother of the gentle craft and intro- 

 duce him thereto, and he will not forget this proof of 

 your friendship. I recently made a painting of a couple 

 of roach from this water. These fish weighed three 

 pounds and a half; the pair were bright as silver. The 

 feeding stream comes from the hills. So great is the 

 supply, that within half a mile from the source a 

 beautiful lake is formed one of Nature's mirrors set 

 in the woods which surround it on all sides. 



Close at hand, in perfect keeping with its beau- 

 tiful surroundings, on the slope of one of the hills, 

 stands the mansion of one of the old gentry, round 



